Varieties

Fresh ginger can vary slightly, depending on where it is grown, but what distinguishes most of the ginger you find in the market is the age at which it was harvested. Mature ginger, which is ideally harvested when the plant is 7 to 10 months old, is what you most commonly find. Young ginger, harvested at 3 to 4 months, before the skin has fully formed, is available seasonally. The latter, which has ivory flesh and rosy pink tips where the stems are beginning to develop, is milder and less pungent than mature ginger. Japanese ginger (Zingiber mioga), known as myoga in Japan, is native to East Asia and is now being farmed in Hawaii. This species is cultivated not for its rhizome, which is inedible, but instead for its flower clusters and buds, which are considered a delicacy in Japan.